ETA: According to some dude on reddit, “It looks like they sniffed him out by looking back at old Internet records (forum posts, IPs etc) around the times of SRs appearance. The first person to ever advertise SR was DPR himself, and he used an email account attached to his natural born identity. No NSA or technical hack.”

Redditors are claiming that the conversation between Ross and the hitman was actually Ross and the blackmailer negotiating over the payment. Of course, it’s the gubmint trying to frame Ross by saying he was hiring the hitman.

He probably wasn’t really trying to get a hitman, because that’d make this story a bit too crazy and interesting. It might have also been a heavy handed threat (I’ve had one done before… muuuhahaha) kind of thing.

Also, it’s the same party that mailed him fake ID’s that got him under the FBI’s interest already.